This Is The Production-Spec Civic Type R Honda Doesn't Want You To See Yet

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Images of the hot hatch have leaked before its official Geneva reveal.

Just one week before its official debut at the 2017 Geneva Motor Show, the Honda Civic Type R has leaked. We did see a preview of the new Type R in the form of an awesome concept car, but this is the production-ready model. We can happily report from the leaked photos, first posted on Autocar, that the car looks nearly identical to the concept. The Civic Type R will be front-wheel drive and manual-only and is set to be powered by a 2.0-liter VTEC turbo engine packing around 325 hp. This is the enthusiast's Civic.

It will also be the first Civic Type R to be available in the US market. This 10th-generation model is not to be confused with the ninth-generation Type R, which just went out of production. Some people may be confused because this all-new Civic does look similar to the outgoing Europe-only model. Even if the two look similar in appearance they will differ in performance. The new Civic Type R should help Honda reclaim some of its FWD lap records. From what we can tell, the only difference from the concept car is the absence of a red center tailpipe. It has been replaced in favor of a matching silver one. Other than that it appears the Type R made it from concept to reality relatively unchanged. That's a very good thing.

We can't wait to see the production model at Geneva and eventually on the streets in the US. There will probably be some insane dealer markups when the car first arrives, but it should be a worthy competitor to the Ford Focus RS.